Sunday June 21 2009

Tillie the Airedale had herself a very enjoyable day, running and running.
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Betty and Nancy with the mountain man sculpture at the Chamber of Commerce. After this we went up to the Museum of the Mountain Man for the rest of the afternoon.

Pinedale has several nice murals on the sides of some of the buildings. This is one of them painted by David Klaren.

We drove downtown, since my internet was still out, to sit in front of the library with my laptop and connect to the internet on their wireless. Was surprised to see three other cars also sitting there doing the same thing! We are on the right. It worked just fine to download a couple hundred more emails and send off a report Betty had written to her vet about how Caitlin is doing. Technology is great. We stopped for ice cream at Rock Rabbit, and it was very goooood.

Another busy day, although I'm having trouble remembering exactly what all we did. Betty and Nancy have wanted to try some window shopping, but not much is open on Sunday. The Chamber of Commerce was open and picked up some maps and brochures and asked about some of the roads, whether they are muddy because of all the rains. They may be rough or full of potholes, but we aren't likely to slide off into the ditch so it looks like we can take a couple of nice rides and not have any problem getting there. Maybe we can do that on Wednesday and Thursday. I made up a list of possibilities but we haven't gone far afield yet.

First thing in the morning we began to notice a small dog running around and around the field in back of the house. She was out there all day, and finally when she started chasing antelope we decided when she came up to the front door that we'd get her into the back yard and try to find who she belonged to. Rich our home owner assn. president was very helpful and in a few hours the owner came to get the dog. She was an Airedale puppy and very cute and smart. Her name was Tillie. Her house isn't far from ours, but she and her buddy a golden lab had gotten out of their kennel and her dad didn't notice.

Tonight we roasted a large chicken with sweet potatoes for dinner. Then there was enough left over for some nice sandwiches later.

Saturday June 20 2009

Pine Creek - High Water

Checking how big the creek is downtown in the park

after seeing it at the Fremont Dam spillway.

Harmony Crossing - Bridge Over Pine Creek

Offhand can't remember what else we did, but we kept busy the whole day. This was the day we explored around some of the nearby roads looking at development and showed Nancy some of the homes Joe and I looked at before we bought this one. It has still been raining, sometimes pouring down. Joe came in to the house from the ranch this afternoon because today we were all invited to go to dinner out at his friend Tom's near Cora at 4. Joe's coffee group buddies and their wives were having a prime rib dinner. We were supposed to bring a side dish. I made a layered salad, that turned out pretty good. The side dishes were wonderful and we did an amazing job of not leaving out anything or duplicating. Al cooked the prime rib roast and I don't think I've ever had better prime rib - perfect. They had one on the rare side and one more done. It was such a nice evening. The plan was to sit on the deck but the rain cancelled that plan, and we stayed in the house. It was nice to see people I knew again, and to meet new ones - A very nice evening. Joe wanted to go right back to the ranch to tend to his water pump. But we were there two or three hours. We all enjoyed the evening very much.

Another Entry for Friday June 19 2009

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HAPPY SOLSTICE

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Caitlin Sits. She's actually deciding whether

she needs to run and hide from me or not.

Betty and Nancy - Blowing up the air mattress.
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The next few days blogging are going to be problematic, trying to remember the order things happened, or even all that has gone on; that's what happens when I don't write the same day. I forget. So I'm just going to post some of the pictures I did get with a caption and that's going to have to do. Go back down to Thursday to see photos that have just been added.

Nancy's train trip and connections all went fine. Betty met her at the Amtrak station in Provo just like clockwork, and they drove up Friday morning from there. They got here just about noon.

They tried to call me from Big Piney but the phone was out - found that out last Tuesday when I came in and reported it then but I needed to be home for them to come in and fix it. So lucky for having the cell phone. Also the internet would not connect, which is the main reason why blogging wasn't possible for about four days. The TV isn't working either, but we're not missing that much. The thunderstorms must have knocked out all of them. Did get the phone back on Friday.

We got them moved into their rooms, and an air mattress blown up which Nancy will use for an extra bed in the studio room. That was cause for a lot of giggling at our old lady selves trying to get the thing pumped up. It seems to be working out o.k. Betty brought her kitty Caitlin, who has been sick. She is also very shy. Goldie, her other cat, and Cody the dog are boarded at the vet. She was keeping in touch with another vet about Caitlin while she was here, and so far Caitlin is doing very well, considering she hasn't ever traveled, or even been outside Betty's house. Her serious symptoms are improved for now.

We ate some lunch and in the afternoon drove up to the Fremont Lake dam and spillway, and the CCC Ponds in the afternoon. I forgot my camera for that and was sorry not to get a few pictures. It was both beautiful and the spillway was pretty awesome for the amount of water coming out of the lake since all the rain we've been having and spring runoff as well. The sun was shining and we had a warm afternoon. One of the ditch riders was there turning some water back on into one of the irrigation canals. He said they had a blowout somewhere downstream - which I took to mean the canal bank had washed out, and that they had gotten it repaired.

Preparing our meals has been interesting and a challenge, because Betty has gluten intolerance and is sensitive to MSG and other seasonings or preservatives, so we're all investigating how we can make meals free of those things and still have a tasty variety for everyone. Almost all prepared food is out, as there's hardly anything in a can or mix that doesn't have one or the other or all. Betty always brings along her own sprouted grain bread. Also we went down to the organic food store and found a great selection of many many items that were fine. I was surprised at what they have in there for our small town. For dinner tonight we had pan grilled salmon, brown rice and asparagus. I brought in some of the rolls I made Thursday and Nancy and I have enjoyed those.

Joe and the dogs seem to be doing o.k. at the ranch. He is doing a lot of pumping water out of the basement and the hole where the pressure tanks and well access is. Told us he is getting up three times in the night to turn the pump on. I ordered him another pump before I left and it should be coming soon.

We've had a good first day here, and really having a good time visiting, catching up, and doing a lot of laughing. Have I mentioned lately that we all went to high school together.

Extra Photos for Wednesday and Thursday

View from Bonnie and Craig's Dinner Table

Bonnie and Craig's View

Bonnie, Ken, Nancy, Joe
A very nice evening

Craig and Bonnie

Dick and Sheral

Made us a nice dinner on Wednesday

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Joe and Lynn at the Heninger's

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Friday June 19 2009

Another Flycatcher

Joe Irrigating

We had a wonderful steak dinner at Bonnie and Craig's last night. Nancy and Ken joined us too and it was nice to see them and visit. Bonnie is a good cook. She made rolls to die for, and a chocolate/chocolate cake. Craig grilled steaks for us. Thank all you guys for a specail enjoyable evening and dinner. It had showered on the way over, but cleared off and the view from their windows was beautiful with angus cattle grazing in the green fields and evening sun across the landscape, interspersed with cloud shadows.

Got a few minutes so am just checking in this morning. Woke up early so just got up. Already have floors mopped and Joe's pork and sauerkraut going, plus a laundry in, and the vacuum out. Brushed the dogs and cut their toenails. Wish I'd done it before now.

Beverly called last night and we talked for a while. Betty also called last night from the motel in Nephi. She was late getting there and sounded tired. Kitty Caitlin is being very good for never traveling before. They should be to the Arrowhead house by noon or before. I'll head into town as soon as I can get ready and leave.

It is a gorgeous sunny morning. The stars shone all night, and there was a beautiful quarter moon rise with one of the big planets nearby. We still have a 30% chance of thunderstorms for several days though.

When we went to Dick and Sheral's the other night I saw the most interesting, awful, astounding thing, in my perception. As we drove out on their road there is a fence which was to our right. There were some antelope, including one doe that had two fawns. They were some distance away but she was very agitated or worried, running back and forth. Another other doe just stood by keeping watch. The tiny babies were trying to follow the mom but she went back and forth numerous times. Finally I saw her start to run and at first I thought she ran over one of the babies, but she had deliberately hit it with her feet or leg and knocked it hard to the ground. It just went sprawling and it's little legs up in the air. I was so surprised it just knocked the wind out of me too. Can't imagine that didn't hurt the little guy. Then I realized she had told it to lay down and hide and stay there, which it did. That is one of the fawn's defense mechanisms. I never thought the mother would be so rough though. Maybe she was just too stressed. The other fawn ran off with her.

Thursday June 18 2007

Sparky with Dark Cloud

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Mushroom Rock and Field during Rain

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Muddy Canyon After the Rain

Betty and Nancy must be on their way. Betty is driving to near Provo today. Early in the morning she will pick up Nancy from Amtrak in Provo and they'll head on up here in Betty's van. I hope everything is going along as planned, because I haven't heard anything just lately. They should be to the Arrowhead house around noon-ish.

Later: Betty checked in about 1:30 and is sitting in the St. George Airport waiting for the van to arrive which she rented to make the trip. "The man" is on the road to deliver it to St. George. Betty is bringing her cat that has been sick and it is with her in a cat carrier. After initially doing some yowling between Mesquite and St. George, is being VERY good. The cat needs medicine a time or two a day. She will go to Nephi tonight, but is going to be quite a bit later than usual getting in. Nancy was sitting in Sacramento where she has a layover, so everything is coming together alright.

I'll get things in order here so I can be gone for a week. Cooking is high on the list. I'll leave Joe something he can heat up, planning on pork and sauerkraut for that because he likes it. A batch of Bunillos is rising and ready to bake, a type of french roll. Tonight we're supposed to go to Craig and Bonnie's for dinner. She said they would cook on their new barbecue. I've been curious who is going to stand out in the rain to cook though. As it is really coming down again this afternoon.

Last night we went over to Sheral and Dick's for dinner. They had prepared a delicious tender roast dinner. I enjoyed the evening immensely! In fact perked up quite a bit when we got there, because my stomach had me draggin' around all day. P> It rained pretty hard most of yesterday, When we drove over, the darkest clouds yet were sitting to the south, and brought loud crashing thunder with lightning and rain poured down again after we got over there. Water was everywhere. Our roads were good though. And the road crews are working on them now, putting gravel on the county roads that go past our place. That is really going to be nice. They've been dirt with mag coating on them up until now. And that mag coating made a huge difference when they did that. Anyway it's very overcast again. When I woke up clouds were totally covering the hills, but not foggy right here. It's showering again now. I know people are getting tired of the rain, but I'm very glad to have it. Someone said it had been raining for 8 weeks. I'm not sure that is right.

Joe is pumping water out of the "basement" now. He said it was the highest he's ever seen it in there. He's also ordering a new submersible pump. I hope it will last as long as the old one has, which his father bought in the 1950's.

Our Mixed Media Round Hill Retreat (June 25-30) has been postponed until after the middle of July. Haven't heard from anyone for sure, but apparently the rain has made the road too bad for us get up there. Although the rain is supposed to quit by tomorrow, the road might not be in any shape for a bunch of old ladies to be traveling up there. It's very remote too. Timewise it will actually be better for me and still something wonderful to look forward to.

I probably won't blog tomorrow, or maybe even for a few days.

Charm asked if I was being droll when I made a comment about our November art show. That necessitated looking it up in the wikipedia to see if I was droll, and this was an example I thought was funny.

"If God did not intend for us to eat animals, then why did he make them out of meat?"

-John Cleese in Monty Python

Wednesday June 17 2009

Near Bondurant

Hoback River Near Bondurant

Hoback River Again, It was pretty high.

Highway coming in to Jackson

Edge of Jackson

Tuesday: Got up plenty early to get myself ready. Decided to go without eating because I didn't want to get there and have them tell me I should have been fasting - although I had asked prior and they said I didn't need to fast. Then I sat down at the desk and guess what! 850 emails downloaded into the laptop. That's for about two weeks. So somebody didn't listen to me about not writing to that address anymore. !!

Bonnie arrived about 8:30 and, leaving the laptop downloading messages, we drove to Jackson. I enjoyed the trip today so much. As usual it was a beautiful drive, this time through the greenness of springtime and off and on rain showers. Nothing major. We were able to have visiting time. Got to Oncology about 10 minutes early. They took me right in for blood work tests, and thankfully they only had to stick me once. I guess most of my veins are wanting to collapse. I learned for the first time that my tumor marker test from 6 weeks ago was 3.2 which is in the normal range. Usually that would indicate that a person had no cancer, but we know from the scans that is not true. A VERY good sign anyway. And they took another tumor marker today which I'll learn the result in a few days.

We had enough time to go to KMart for some shopping before lunch and got that done. Ate lunch at the Virginian nearby and got out to Wilson for the doctor appointment before 1 PM. That also went very well. Dr. Meno said he couldn't be happier with how I was doing. He says my liver is normal size, not enlarged. See what all you guys are doing with good thoughts and prayers? You can't believe all the blessings you have brought in my life and how thankful I am. Dr. Meno said I must be doing something right. I'm sure he meant spiritually and I told him about you all and that we are trying. Also he told me to go ahead and eat more vegetables and let the nurses monitor the coumadin. It would be better to eat a healthy diet with lots of vegetables instead of cutting so many of them out to keep the tests level.

Next on to Smiths and I was grateful to shop in a nice grocery store again. But by the end of being there I was pooping out and Bonnie didn't have as much to get as me, so I was done. Can go to Ridley's on Friday for anything I need then. We each grabbed one of the big muffins I'd gotten for a snack, and drove on home. THANK YOU FOR DRIVING ME AND THE FUN DAY OUT BONNIE.

Weatherwise, all l we'd really been in all day were a few sprinkles. I sorted out the groceries at the Arrowhead house, some for there and some for the ranch, and then drove on home and got the rest put away here. The ranch is stocked up for Joe being here alone while Betty, Nancy and I got to the Arrowhead house for a week. He may come and be there with us yet, but now he says he'll stay at the ranch. Even though I've told him about going to Round Hill Retreat for six days after Betty and Nancy leave, it hasn't dawned on him that I'll be gone from here for about two weeks between the two things.

Wednesday: It started raining last evening again just as I was driving in and rained most of the night and all day so far, sometimes really pouring down. Joe told me a couple of days ago that the water was way up in the hole where the pressure tanks sit (I won't explain that, its too long right now) and 4" over where it used to run into the well casing - which he since cemented up. He said it's only been that high one other time - not to be confused with often being able to run into the casing each spring. It does mean the ground water table is very high right now.

So I asked him about the basement under the house where the water heater is, and see that he's checking that. It always needs to be pumped out in the spring when the irrigation water is on, but will this year for sure, probably every day for a while.

A very slow start to the morning. Except that when I woke up at 6 A.M I was VERY angry to find out that all the subscription channels on the TV had disappeared. I just went right to the phone and called tech support, knowing Joe would want to watch news or something. Pressed "4" for tech support. Got my payment account instead. It took 10 minutes for the girl to transfer me to the right place - their system was off, I was told. She and I got pretty fed up with each other real quick until she finally decided to get rid of me to someone else. Have to admit I was still so groggy from just waking up she probably wondered what I was on.

Then it took more than half an hour, but they got it straightened out. Their people had not recorded our new dish smart card properly although when I did it two weeks ago it was supposed to have been done then. As a matter of fact the receiver at the Arrowhead house is doing the same thing I realize now, and I'll have to go through this again there. Will it all ever end. (BTW I don't believe I've mentioned that the toilet off the mud room at Arrowhead is running all the time so has been turned off, something wrong with the doo dads inside the tank).

It was good to lay back down for a while since it felt like I didn't have enough rest after the long day yesterday. After getting up sat a long time with my breakfast and tea. Joe is fixing a corner of the kitchen counter which has come loose. There is stuff all over the counters and when I saw that I wondered how many days I'll have to look at that. But he's working on it. I guess he just wants to be doing something. Yesterday he did work on the utility room faucet and it's back together, but the pan is still sitting under the drain. Hope its really fixed.

This afternoon I got another bedroom cleaned, finish on the wood floor etc. We are going to Sheral and Dick's for dinner tonight and looking forward to that. She said they would have a roast.

I stuck a picture of Judi and I with her high school friend Mary onto Monday's blog. Judi also had one of them on her blog. Rollie took the pictures for us.

Happy Girl

I finally found a piece of foam at KMart yesterday for a new bed for Raven so she has one at each house. Its' actually an egg crate mattress pad which I folded up and covered with a couple of old throw rugs. She went right on to it and loves her bed. It was easy to tell she has been missing that. When we went back to Pinedale last week she went right in the bedroom and curled up on her bed and stayed there, would hardly come when we called her. She said "Thanks Mom!" She's snoring away now.